Monday, January 9, 2017

EPIPHANY II 2017

Over the Christmas season and into the first weeks of Epiphany, the Lectionary readings bring to our
attention a deep connection between Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Jesus.
The readings for this week continue to build this bridge between Old and
New Testaments. The passage from Isaiah sets out a much larger divine
plan than previous prophets proclaimed. “It is too light a thing that
you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore
the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations”.
God’s love is no longer to be confined to the Children of Israel. He has
called Isaiah to a far more ambitious prophecy, so that “My salvation
may reach to the end of the earth."

Apostle Andrew -- De Zurbaran

In
the Gospel reading, John the Baptist sees Jesus coming towards him and declares
“Here is the Lamb of God”. The expression 'Lamb of God' is now so well-worn, it is
easy to miss the religious implications of this extraordinary metaphor.
It too forges a connection between past, present and future, and it does so by means of
two powerful resonances deeply engrained in the consciousness of the
Jews. One is the memory of the
Passover Lamb, the sprinkling of whose blood on the doorposts played a
key part in the Israelites' liberation from slavery. The other is the
Suffering Servant of the book of Isaiah, who is led like a Lamb to the
slaughter. Thus with the use of this single image, John the Evangelist conveys the spiritual intensity that enables John the Baptist to penetrate the true significance of Jesus long before others manage to do so.

This Gospel passage takes the bridge building a step further, however. Among the
first to hear John’s metaphor are Andrew and Simon. It is given to the
otherwise undistinguished Andrew to grasp the truth and tell his subsequently much more distinguished brother
“We have seen the Messiah” – the “Anointed” for whom, as devout Jews,
they have been taught to yearn since infancy. Together they take the
first hesitant steps on a new spiritual journey. It is a journey that will bring them
first to the disillusionment of Passiontide before the total transformation of
Easter that equips them both for martyrdom.